Edinburgh flight diverted over mid-air emergency

A flight between Edinburgh and Orkney has landed safely after declaring a mid-air emergency.

The Loganair flight to Kirkwall was diverted and landed at Aberdeen Airport at 10.36am.

Orkney MSP Liam McArthur, who was on the flight, told the BBC that the crew informed passengers that there were fumes in the cockpit.

There were 34 passengers on board, and fire service attended on the runway as per procedure.

The plane was escorted to a stand where the emergency was stood down.

A spokesperson for Loganair, said: “The captain of Flight BE6891, which departed Edinburgh International Airport at 0925 this morning for Kirkwall with 20 passengers, one infant and three crew on board, elected to divert to Aberdeen as a precautionary measure after detecting an unusual smell in the cockpit.

“The safety of its passengers and crew is the airline’s number one priority and the plane landed safely at 1045 without further incident. The passengers disembarked as normal when the aircraft arrived on stand.

“As is normal in such circumstances, the airport placed its emergency vehicles on standby.

“Loganair apologises for any inconvenience experienced by its passengers who are all now continuing on their journey on another aircraft.”